Watch: ‘I Can’t Spend my Life in Prison,’ Gang Member Sobs at Sentencing

A 21-year-old
man, convicted of attempted murder for firing shots at a rival gang
member at a University of Southern California campus party, sobbed and
pleaded for leniency during his sentencing Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Edmund W. Clarke Jr.
sentenced Brandon Spencer to 40 years to life in prison, following his
February conviction on four counts of attempted murder, the Times
writes. The shooting, which occurred at a Halloween party in 2012, was
the first on the campus in decades, the report says.

In a dramatic courtroom scene, sheriff’s deputies tried to calm
Spencer as he banged his head on the defense table as he pleaded for
leniency. About 50 supporters and family members sat behind him as asked
Judge Clarke for a second chance, the report says.

"I'm sorry for what happened but I can't spend the rest of my life in
prison," Spencer said through tears, the Times reports. "I'm not just
some gang-banger that they portrayed me as."

Spencer had no criminal record, was working as a security guard and
had planned to attend college, his attorney, John Blanchard, said,
according to the Times. Further, during his trial, Blanchard said there
was no credible evidence that Spencer was the gunman.

But law enforcement authorities argue that after arriving at a
crowded Halloween party and spotting Geno Hall, 22, a rival gang member,
Spencer left and returned with a gun. Upon his return, Spencer
reportedly shot Hall and continued firing as Hall ran and the crowd
dispersed, the Times says. Hall, who had reportedly shot and wounded
Spencer a year earlier, was among the four people injured, the report
says.

Spencer, then 19, tried to run after the shooting, but was arrested
in a campus parking lot, the report says. Prosecutors said during trial
that Spencer deserved a stiff punishment for shooting into a crowd of
people in an effort to settle a score with a rival gang member, the
Times says.

During sentencing, Judge Clarke denounced gang violence, but rebuffed
a request from prosecutors that Spencer be sentenced to consecutive
40-year prison terms for each of the four counts of attempted murder,
which adds up to a life sentence, the Times reports. He ruled that the
sentences would run concurrently, meaning Spencer could eventually be
eligible for parole, the report says.

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